Excerpt of the story:
"My uncle used to say Hades left the Underworld for Persephone, and I thought how stupid was that, like why would he leave for a girl? And I think I finally got why he did it." His eyebrows furrow, making him appear deep in his...
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Ισαβέλα (Isabella)
"Are you a camera?" Arthur plops down beside me on the bleachers. I look up from my notebook to face him with a glare.
"Because every time I look at you, I smile." He says with a cheeky yet real smile.
I shake my head with a small laugh, "When will you ever stop?"
"Soon." He replies, looking forward where the team was practicing. Rio had to attend basketball practice, they had one more competition left, and I decided to tag along. Which reminds me...
"Why aren't you practicing? You're in the team too, aren't you?" I ask Arthur.
He doesn't look at me, but leans forward with his elbows on his knees, observing his teammates, "I'm leaving soon. Won't be around for the competition."
I grab his shoulder, "What? Why? When?"
Arthur chuckles at the questions that tumble out of my mouth in a rush, "So concerned for me, aren't you, Sweet Bella?"
"Stop joking around." I hit his shoulder.
He finally turns to me, "I am leaving. Why? I realised writing wasn't for me, I'm travelling again, and I think I'm leaning more to photography, it's always been a dream of mine anyways, so I thought why not pursue it now, rather than waste time doing something I wouldn't like."
"When? Tomorrow."
I stare at him for a while longer, then turn back to my notebook, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" The words come out choked.
He grabs my chin gently to face him, "Hey, hey see I told you, you were going to get attached to me and my bad jokes." A strangled laugh comes out of me, "Yeah, I'm going to miss you, who would have thought huh?"
He smiles, letting go of my chin, and takes out something from his duffel bag. "Gracias por los dulces de manzana, pero prefiero los de arándanos." He says in broken Spanish that seemed like he memorised the words. (Thanks for the apple candy, but I prefer blueberry ones.)
"That's what she said. The girl in Spain." He softly says, passing a photograph to me.
I gasp in realisation, "Oh my god! Arthur..."
The girl in the photograph was me, with my head tilted towards the sky, laughing like I was a maniac. He was the one who passed the apple flavoured candies to the little boy to pass them to me. I was that girl, and I remembered what had happened that day. It was the day I was walking to Abuela's bakery, the day I was bullied for the first time ever, the day my life took a complete turn.
"I didn't want to seem like a creep, but when you started laughing, I couldn't not want to capture this. I've never shared it with anyone, you're the first to see it, and I'm giving it to you," He smiles affectionately at me, "As a goodbye gift. And now you know what the girl said."
